Pioneer in Ecosystem Services Valuation to Speak at Florida Tech

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Robert Costanza, Ph.D., of the Gund Institute of Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont, will speak at Florida Institute of
Technology on December 5 at 2 p.m. The public is invited to this free event, which will be held in the F.W. Olin Engineering Building Auditorium Room 118.

Costanza, a pioneer of ecosystem services valuation, will discuss opportunities to apply old and new economic tools to Florida coastal policy issues.
Ecosystem valuation methods can be used to examine the effects of human activities on environmental and social systems by estimating the economic values of
ecosystem components and their services. Examples of ecosystem services include nutrient production and flood protection.

His research on the interface between economic and ecological systems, has been cited frequently. It has been noted in more than 3,000 scientific articles
and more than 80 interviews and reports in various scientific and consumer media outlets, which include Science, Nature, Newsweek, U.S. News & World
Report, The New York Times, The Economist and National Geographic.

He is author of more than 300 scientific papers. Topics include landscape level spatial simulation modeling, analysis of energy and material flows through
economic and ecological systems, valuation of ecosystem services and natural capital, and analyses of dysfunctional subsidies and ways to correct them.

This presentation is sponsored by Florida Tech’s Department of Marine and Environmental Systems, College of Business and College of Science; the University
of Vermont; and Coastal Science and Policy. For more information, contact Ken Lindeman, Ph.D., at (321) 271-7547 or at lindeman@fit.edu.